The Importance of a Brand Story in Business

People find meaning and connection through the stories they tell one another. If you want to truly connect with your audience, the best way is through using a brand story to engage people’s emotions and inspire them to action. Good stories make people think and feel and remember why something is important. Quality storytelling makes products and services relevant, which in turn makes companies successful. Learning how to craft a quality brand story causes people to stay loyal to your brand.

A brand story helps people sincerely care about whether or not your business succeeds. It helps them cultivate an attachment to it and shows them how they’re a part of the brand’s story. Your customers experience the brand’s story for themselves and can truly see the value you’re providing for them. I’d like to give you some examples of how brand’s have successfully used story to tap into something people care about and also promote their business in the hope that you’ll take away something valuable to use for your own brand story.

TOMS

The founder of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie, decided to launch a radical marketing campaign for the company in April of 2011. He asked that everyone go barefoot for a day. This marketing campaign started as a way to raise awareness for how children in developing countries often grow up without shoes, which forces them to walk around barefoot. Lacking protection for their feet, especially for younger children in more urban areas, opens them up to a greater risk of diseases and infections. Mycoskie hoped to make a difference for these children and his marketing campaign has now become a yearly tradition, known as One Day Without Shoes.

Small Business Saturday

In 2010, American Express launched an initiative that helped them as a company and also benefited others. This initiative is known as Small Business Saturday. The day occurs the first Saturday after Thanksgiving and encourages shoppers to patronize local businesses. Especially during the holidays, it can be difficult for smaller businesses to compete with well-known brands, so it’s important that a larger corporation takes time to help out these businesses.

Domino’s

Domino’s is all about convenience; this view led to them starting an entirely new way for consumers to order their food that focuses on convenience for their customers. This initiative is called Domino’s AnyWare. You can order food through various digital means, such as a simple text, Twitter, your car, or even a smart watch. Domino’s was able to cater to the desire of convenience from customers and also advertise on a variety of platforms.

T-Mobile

Many people have a love-hate relationship with their phone companies, especially when it comes to signing long-term contracts that require them to pay a certain amount of money to the company each month. T-Mobile recognized that customers were not satisfied with the current state of phone plans, so they offered Simplechoice, which allows customers to do away with contracts and instead lease phones on a month-to-month basis. This move received praise from many customers and helped T-Mobile compete with other phone companies.

Check back soon for my next blog in this series, which will cover in more detail what else makes a strong brand story and some tips on how to start crafting yours!